DPRK condemns U.S.-ROK joint military drill

Pyongyang has condemned the Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military exercise between the United States and the Republic of Korea as a move "disturbing the regional security environment."

Kim Yong Bok, first vice-chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army (KPA), stated in a statement published by the official Korean Central News Agency on Tuesday that the large-scale military drill against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) can never be "defensive" because it is conducted by the world's largest nuclear weapons state and its "satellite states" on the Korean Peninsula.

"The current joint military drill is the one for an actual war, which makes its provocative nature more clear, as it renewed the records of all the past rehearsals for an anti-DPRK war in its nature, scale and mode," said the statement issued on Monday.

Noting that the drill has transformed into a multinational one, with the highest number and duration of field maneuvers ever recorded, the statement said it "has turned into the biggest, the longest and the worst war drill" in the Asia-Pacific region as well as in the world.

The DPRK is watching everything carefully and ready to cope with any situation, it said.

The latest statement followed similar denouncements issued earlier this month by No Kwang Chol, the defense minister of the DPRK, and a KPA General Staff spokesperson.